


Of Blood and Bugsters

by aquabluejay



Series: Of Blood and Bugsters [1]
Category: Kamen Rider Ex-Aid
Genre: Except When It Isn't, Kamen Rider Chronicle is an occult themed game, M/M, Science and Magic, Supernatural Elements, Tokusatsu - Freeform, Vampire AU, Vampire Bugsters, Vampire!Parad, fangs, mostly canon complieant, parallel events to canon, vampire venom causes arousal trope
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-25
Updated: 2018-12-26
Packaged: 2019-02-20 06:43:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 7
Words: 6,126
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13141224
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aquabluejay/pseuds/aquabluejay
Summary: Dan Kuroto insists that they’re not vampires, they’re "Bugsters”. He’s very particular about his company’s branding. Meanwhile, everyone with any sense agrees, very scientifically, that theymost definitely arevampires. They have fangs and they drink blood. Really if they didn't know better they might think something was a little off with that Dan...





	1. Knowing and Naming

**Author's Note:**

  * For [borrowedphrases](https://archiveofourown.org/users/borrowedphrases/gifts).



> This series will collect the various pieces of the vampire AU I've been working on. This work specifically should be the main narrative of parallel plot events, mostly in a vignette style.

The first time Emu ever saw Parad, he didn’t know his name, but he was pretty sure he was a vampire. There were no introductions as such, and he kept his distance from the doctors. But there was a certain… aesthetic. Colorful pants aside, the odd black coat with the high collar and the trailing tails did not scream run-of-the-mill human. The probably-vampire had smiled toothily down at them from the top of the stairs before strolling away and becoming one with the deepening night.

The second time, Emu was sitting on a bench. The sky was turning purple where it met the horizon as the sun dropped behind Emu over the water. Emu knew it would be properly dusk in a few minutes and he should probably head home. In recent months he’d become all too aware of what actually lurked in the dark, and Hiiro still had his gashats. But Emu wasn’t ready to go home yet. Twisting the cord of his game scope in one hand he looked down at his hospital ID badge pinned to the front of the white coat clenched in his other hand. Maybe Hiiro was right but what was he to do? And no matter what, he kept thinking of Kiriya… Kiriya and how he’d… Emu’s mind had been down this path a dozen times already, hopelessly looped. This time though, before his thoughts could spiral back down any further, a voice interrupted.

“Quit being a doctor already,” came the voice out of the blue and awfully close. Startled, Emu jumped up, circling away when he recognized who had snuck up on him.

It was that boy from before again, the one with the black coat and the smile. His name was Parad, apparently.

And yes, he was definitely a vampire.

Parad’s eyes were dark but when the light hit them just so they shone and revealed slit pupils like a cat. Eyeshine and vertical pupils, while common enough in animals, were hardly a human trait, and a distinguishing feature of vampires. And yet the most extraordinary thing about Parad’s eyes, Emu noted, was that they gleamed two distinct colors. Red on the left and blue on the right. _Hetrochromic tapeta lucida_ , the doctor in Emu supplied.

Plus, his fangs showed when he talked.

They argued until Emu, in frustration, finally voiced what was really on his mind. _Kiriya was dead_.

“The one who killed him was _Genm_.” There was something peculiarly about the way Parad said “Genm” that Emu didn't have time to examine too hard, but sent a chill through him anyway.

“Use this gashat.” Parad folded Emu’s fingers securely around the gashat -- a gift. It was strange, fat and blank black plastic with no labels or markings to indicate what it contained.

“Prove to me that you can change fate.”

There was plenty to wonder about. And yet, what Emu’s mind kept turning over as he stared down at it, long after the vampire had taken his leave, was that when his fingers brushed Emu’s, skin to skin, they hadn’t felt cold at all.

Thankfully, Emu wasn’t stupid enough to accept something from a vampire with question. It was only in desperation that he later used it anyway. Parad watched the whole thing gleefully from his high perch in a tree. He spent an awful lot of time watching Emu and the others, a fact Emu gradually became increasingly aware of.

Parad watched him from afar until the day he arrived with a suit of armor of his own and showed his fangs in a less literal but no less dangerous way. He trounced Hiiro and Taiga day without breaking a sweat. He’d clearly come to show off his new toy. If in the process he interrupted Emu’s beating that seemed, at the time, more of a side effect than an end itself.


	2. Rise and Fall

A doctor, a kamen rider. Heal the infected, lay to rest those who were beyond help and rise again. Protect the living from the demonic and the undead.

Killing the vampire that bit and infected a patient can cure them, but only if it’s done in time. Those who succumb become thralls to the vampires. Something less than a human or a vampire - the husk of a person, zombie like, so empty and so hungry. There was nothing to do but put them down and collect the dust their bodies crumble into. It was no violation of the doctor’s oath to do it. They were no longer people.

Dan insists they’re not vampires -- “They’re Bugsters!” He’s very particular about his company’s branding. They’re definitely vampires though. They’re parasitic life forms, feeding on humans, spreading varied forms of the viral infection that created them. They drink blood. Definitely vampires, Emu argues back until he learns that arguing with Dan is a waste of time. Even Hiiro calls them vampires, even if he does it making air quotes around the word every time.

Emu never quite understood what it was with Dan Kuroto and the macabre anyway. The maniac decided to use his discovery to further his work as a game designer, producing a whole new kind of experience? Ok. Crazy but ok. Emu can kind of understand how Kuroto’s twisted mind got there. But really…. The man discovered a self-reproducing bio-agent, capable of producing extraordinary abilities in its host bodies. And what does the man do? He uses it to make vampires. And zombies. And with a little help from some cult websites, mixes in a little demon summoning and sets up the end of days. Why couldn’t the man just stick to DND or LARP or something? It sure would have been a lot less trouble for everyone…

Kuroto’s magnum opus in progress, Kamen Rider Chronicle - don a suit of armor and fight the scourge of demonic and undead creatures. A living nightmare for the riders - the doctors at least.  
___________

Genm dies screaming and writhing on the ground. The dark same dark forces he’d called on in battle time and again, turned loose on him -- Turned upon him by Parad, who watches, fangs showing in a smile that doesn’t reach his eyes. Instead, there’s something darker than malice glinting there and it drives Emu back a step as much as the threat of being set upon by the damned like Dan Kuroto does.

When Parad has gone and it is finally safe to approach what remains of Dan Kuroto on the mortal plane, it’s not a pretty sight.

He’s no more than a tangle of limbs, bent and broken into sickening, impossible contortions. One of his arms does not seem to be quite attached to the rest of him anymore. There are bits of gore strewn haphazardly all around him on the pavement.

The man had not been a vampire, so the late afternoon sunlight doesn't not burn his remains. But after all that he had done, he was not longer entirely human either, No bright, fresh, living blood was left in him to bleed. Instead there’s something dark, nearly black, that oozes from the wounds and wetly coats the stray bits of flesh.

Well, they don't have to worry about arresting him now, Taiga observes. All that's left is for a ministry clean to collect what’s left and store it until the higher-ups decided what to do with them.


	3. A Predatory Nature

It’s been a long night already when Parad appears to to the Riders, looking down on them from his perch atop a wall, kicking his legs in what Emu considers an insultingly carefree way. The promise of dawn is already lightening the Eastern horizon, but Parad has a message for them.

“All of this is what you humans wished for. Games were made for entertainment, and villains were made as targets for relieving stress. Which means, Vampires prey on humans because you humans made us this way.”

“Bugsters, you mean,” Nico interjects. Parad diverts his attention for scarcely a moment to roll his eyes in her direction and back to Emu before continuing. Somewhere, Dan is probably rolling in his grave.

“But we're not prey that you humans can hunt as you please like every other species. Bugsters are also born predators. This game will judge which species is truly the apex predator.” Parad clambers to his feet and walks along the top of the wall for a few meters before vanishing.

____________

Under normal circumstances it would be nigh impossible for one vampire to compel another, even through a bite. But they each had their own curious gifts. Lovelica, it seemed, possessed a particular power over the opposite gender, and over those whose hearts did not already belong to another. For a time he was able to keep Poppy under his spell, forcing her into a role in Kamen Rider Chronicle. Even when she woke from it she was lost and hurting.

Emu’s heart had broken for her. It was such a relief when she finally came back to them that Emu can hardly believe it. It seemed like nothing had gone right since Kiriya died. Emu was so afraid he was about to lose another friend.

Now at last Poppy is by Emu's side again. They and the rest of their allies stroll along the river, breathing in the night air, watching the way the city lights shine and play on the water's surface with new eyes.

Then Parad is there again, shattering the pleasant mood. As they’re passing under a bridge, he drops suddenly down from the shadows above them.

“Why Emu?!” Parad cries. He whines it like a child but his voice cracks a little under the force of some emotion more than simply petulance. But Emu stands firm. Parad and his ilk had stolen Poppy and turned her against them, and all for his game.

“You said you’d play games with Poppy but not with me?”

“Poppy’s different from you. You chose to take people’s lives!”, Emu retorts sharply.

“Aren’t we friends?”

Emu can’t even begin to process how strange a statement that is because he’s too busy being angry. How dare Parad compare himself to Poppy. Poppy was Emu’s friend. Poppy was a good person who would never have hurt anyone without being forced. Parad is still talking but Emu can hardly hear him over the blood roaring in his ears.

“M, you …. are me.”  
There's no time to wonder what on earth Parad means by that because everything immediately goes to hell.

Parad’s eyes flash their unnatural colors. Emu sees his pupils contract to thin slits before he’s distracted by Hiiro’s cry of “Intern! Get away!”

Unfortunately, Emu instinctive response to the warning is not to flee but to turn and look confusedly at Hiiro. In doing so he makes a grave mistake: He turns his back to the vampire.

Before Emu even fully registers the danger, his fate is already sealed.

Parad’s form dissolves away as he suddenly unfurls into a terrible, seething cloud composed of darkness and glowing embers. It hangs in the air, shifting and churning for an instant and then rushes forwards, much the way a hunting animal springs an ambush, leaping from cover and falling upon its doomed and helpless prey. Perhaps in fact, that is exactly what it is.

The others shout for Emu to look out, but it’s in vain. They can do nothing but watch as the cloud surges forward and engulfs Emu before he can turn back around. It half obscures him in whirling shadow and fiery sparks but they can make out his form, thrashing in the heart of the vortex. They continue to call out to him, but it’s already too late.

When Emu finally raises his head again, neither the gleam in his eyes, nor the wide, toothy grin belong to him.


	4. Succumb

Parad burns through a great deal of energy shifting forms. The swirling mass of sparks and darkness is an inherently chaotic state, costly to maintain even for the few seconds he remains in it before diving into Emu. Once he's done that, forcibly maintaining control of Emu’s body is its own exertion. Therefore, when Parad at last releases control and reforms his own body, leaving Emu to collapse onto the cement floor, Parad is terribly hungry.

Emu struggles to get up. His limbs won’t cooperate. It's a bit amusing to watch and Parad does, favoring the young doctor with a little smile like he's a particularly dense but amusing pet. It’s all Emu can do to lift his head to glare at Parad as he demands, “What did you do to me?!”

“This is what happens when you refuse to play with me.”

Parad circles around Emu like a shark, or perhaps a big cat. He passes out of Emu’s sight as he moves behind him. A minute shudder runs up Emu's spine. He doesn’t like having the vampire where he can’t see him. His unease is all too warranted. Parad swoops down on Emu and grabs the back of his coat, lifting him up from all fours until he’s forced to bend back into a kneeling position. Emu feels Parad settle himself behind him, so close that his chest brushes against Emu’s back.

The vampire sniffs at Emu’s neck. He wraps one hand tightly around Emu’s bicep holding him in place, and fits around Emu’s jaw, forcing his chin up and head back.

“I’m hungry… you smell so good M,” Parad whispers against Emu’s neck. “Just a little taste…”

Emu barely feels the vampire’s breath against his neck before fangs sink into his neck. In his thirst, Parad is not as delicate as he could have been. For an instant Emu’s world reduces to the _white-hot-ice-cold _sensation of Parad’s fangs piercing his neck. Then he begins to struggle but Parad’s arms simply coil around him, keeping him in place.__

____

____

Even as he thrashes Emu knows it’s already too late. He’s already bitten. Parad's venom is already in his blood. He’s inoculated, all the Riders are, so he can’t be infected. But that doesn't make him immune to the bite’s other effects. Within a few dozen frantic heartbeats, he feels his body begin to relax, sagging helplessly in Parad’s hold. The pain recedes rapidly to some far back part of his mind as he slips deeper into the venom-induced haze.

Emu blinks heavily. He loses track of how much time has passed. How long has Parad been feeding? He’s starting to feel woozy in a way he fears might not have anything to do with the venom and everything to do with how much blood he’s lost already.

The sound of Parad sucking out Emu’s life blood is the only sound and it seems unnervingly loud, echoing off the hard empty surfaces of the place Parad has brought him. Brought him for what purpose? To make a meal of him? There’s nothing he can do about it though, there’s no escape - only the fangs and the hungry mouth at his neck - only death.

_He’s nothing but prey. ___

____

____

It’s the last coherent thought Emu has as he slips into unconsciousness.

_______

 

It’s everything Parad dreamed it would be, to finally taste Emu. The vampire clutches Emu to him, hunched over him as he feeds. Utterly lost in the scent and taste of Emu’s blood - savoring everything Emu.

In the end Graphite’s fortuitous arrival is likely the only thing that prevents Parad from accidentally draining Emu dry on the spot.

"Tell me you didn't bring him back here just to decorate this place with his corpse,” Graphite says dryly, placing a hand on Parad’s shoulder. “Do that outside."

Parad reacts sharply, whipping his head around and snarling at Graphite. His bloody teeth show in a snarl. Blood runs down his chin, dripping onto the cement.

The feral reaction surprises Graphite quite a bit. Parad isn't usually like that with his food. Usually he’s more laid back with prey once he’s subdued them and often even willing to share. 

Something has certainly come over him now though. Graphite removes his hand and waits patiently. It only takes a moment before Parad shakes it off, blinking up at Graphite, seemingly just as bewildered himself. Then he turns back to Emu, who has begun to stir slightly in his arms. Parad bends his head and begins hurriedly attending to the damage he’s done before the Rider really does bleed out.

Though Emu’s eyelids are fluttering, he’s far too weak and doped on venom to resist as Parad returns his attention to Emu’s neck. Although this time Parad only licks carefully at it, flattening his tongue over the wound and laving plenty saliva into it. He pulls back to survey his work and watches the edges of the wounds seal together. It’s raw, pink flesh marking them, but the wounds are closed, and Emu is no longer bleeding.

With that accomplished, Parad lays the human on the hard cement floor and goes to perch on a crate nearby. He wipes his face clean with his sleeves before pulling his handheld console from somewhere inside his jacket. Emu gradually loses consciousness again, drifting away from the bleeps and blips of Parad's game.


	5. A Piece of You

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This takes us through the events of what was episode 29 in canon.

“Let go!” Emu shouts as Parad drags him across the dewed grass. Parad seems oblivious to his objections, smiling, caught up in some private bliss.

Parad drops Emu abruptly and unceremoniously and strides on without a backwards glance. In the moments it takes Emu to finish spitting out the dirt and relocate his captor, Parad has climbed onto a swingset a few yards away. The vampire stands on the seat of one of the swings, holding onto the chains, and swinging himself contentedly back and forwards.

They’re in a park which Emu thinks he dimly recognizes. It’s after dark and the park is empty of other visitors. Emu wonders for a moment if he should run. Parad seems so caught up in something that he’s practically ignoring Emu, despite having dragged him all the way here. However, before he can consider his escape any further, Parad begins to speak.

“When you were a child you were always alone. So you spent all your time thinking up game ideas”, Parad announces without turning to look at Emu, though clearly addressing him. His expression has gone somewhat somber.

_“How can he know that?”_ ,Emu thinks. _“There’s no way. He can’t...he-”_

“But what you really wanted was someone to play games with.” Parad’s smile is back. “And that was... me!”

“What are you talking about?!”

Parad leaps from the swing, momentum carrying him forwards until he’s leaning over the safety rail that bounds the swing area.

“You’re special, you know. Not like the other patients. That first version of the virus was different. _You’re_ different M.” Parad is positively beaming, gripping the bar and leaning over like a bird of prey. “You have a special power - you already know it - a _talent_ , like the rest of us.”

Emu has struggled into a sitting position and Parad steps over the railing to crouch in front of him, bringing them nose to nose. The position Emu is in, having his weight forward, braced on his hands, precludes leaning back away and so he’s stuck eye to eye with Parad.

“You were infected with the virus and you were changing, but then you changed your fate.”  
“You pushed me out. You were so lonely you made a whole other being - well more or less whole… I’ve always been watching over you, a shade of yourself to keep you company.”

Parad breathes in deeply through his nose. The dreamy contentment is back in his eyes for a moment before being replaced by something sharp that Emu doesn’t like at all. Parad’s eyes gleam too brightly to be simply reflecting the nearby streetlamps, and Emu feels himself become a passenger in his own body again.

“ _Now play with me._ ”

____________

 

Emu wants his body back to himself, he’s particularly adamant about that. As far as Parad is concerned though, he’ll just have to wait.

When Emu finally forces them back apart with an almighty shout of, “Get out of my body!” it is not without consequences.

In fact, Emu is so desperate to push Parad out that he lets the vampire take something precious from him as he goes. Emu pushes so hard that a bit of him comes away in Parad’s metaphysical grasp. It’s something more than he could have taken from biting Emu or feeding on him in the usual way, and Parad clutches it close to himself greedily.

A piece of Emu’s being, which Parad imprints onto himself. The spark of Emu’s power to bend the rules. It has the echo of humanity in it and it’s enough to fool the driver’s failsafes and make them read Parad as human.

Parad’s games fuse together, a new armor assembles around him for the first of many times. 

The frames of his new visor are gilded gold and come to graceful, wing tipped points. The different styles of Para-DX’s two forms have been fused together in a pinwheel crown of wild bi-colored locks. Gone is the silver, replaced by gold on black, and fiery red folding under cool blue.

It’s is wild and beautiful and it suits Parad perfectly, Emu thinks, right down to the sick jolt that the sight of it produces in his stomach.

Emu hates how natural it looks. A mishmash of Parad’s power and what he’s stolen from Emu shouldn’t look so graceful and deliberate. It should be haphazard and frankensteinian. It should look ugly, like the monstrous creation it is. It should look as wrong as it feels.

But It could never have been anything else. Emu could never have imagined anything more fitting.


	6. Dissipation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An interlude between episodes 
> 
> This chapter contains no actual sex but non-consensual themes including clouded judgment and involuntary arousal via vampire venom. Also the usual vampire biting.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> dissipation  
> noun  
> dis·si·pa·tion | \ˌdi-sə-ˈpā-shən\
> 
> 1 : the action or process of dissipating : the state of being dissipated:  
> a : dispersion, diffusion the dissipation of the smoke the dissipation of enemy forces  
> b archaic : dissolution, disintegration  
> c : intemperate living especially : excessive drinking  
> 2 : an act of self-indulgence lived a life of dissipation especially : one that is not harmful : amusement.

Parad steals Emu away again, back to what Emu is realizing might be a disused sublevel of the Genm building, judging by the decor and the cool stillness of the air. If that’s the case, his allies might even think to look for him there. Except that the Bugsters seem to have performed some kind of takeover of the Genm Corporation and so he suspects they won’t be getting anywhere near him anytime soon.

Emu finds himself sitting heavily on one of the crates that dot the room where Parad has been “hosting” him as Parad vacates his body once again. As Emu scrambles to reorient himself, Parad reassumes his usual shape, solidifying out of the shadows nearby.

The hard work of creating a new form and trouncing Ex-Aid, Brave, and Snipe in a single go has left Parad thirsty. Or perhaps it wasn’t really all that hard but having Emu’s blood within reach alone is enough to fuel the vampire’s appetite.

Regardless of the cause, Parad circles Emu, with a definite air of excitement. Emu has just enough time to register the flash of gleaming eyes and teeth as Parad grabs him and applies his fangs to Emu’s neck. Parad takes more care than the last time and the bite, fangs slipping in almost neatly. Emu grabs a fistful of his jacket reflexively but doesn’t quite dare shove him away, imagining the kind of damage those teeth could do ripping free - not that Emu likely has the strength or leverage to dislodge a determined vampire as he is. It’s too late anyway and as Parad’s venom pumps through him, his grip loosens.

When Parad has had his fill, he draws back, extracting his teeth and languidly licking at the punctures until they seal themselves. Finally, Parad pulls away, his hold lingering a little, to ensure that Emu doesn’t immediately topple off the crate he’s still seated on. He steadies Emu for a minute before apparently deeming him stable enough not to smash his face on the floor.

Emu is surprised to find he doesn’t feel as weak and woozy as he did last time. In fact, he’s a lot more conscious than last time. Parad must not have taken as much blood.

Indeed, as the minutes tick by Emu feels less and less floaty and lethargic. Vampire venom was extremely quick acting but apparently also quick to fade - although his sense of how much time had passed while Parad was actually feeding was extremely hazy. It might have been a few minutes or an hour, he had no way to tell.

Parad remains unsettlingly close, nearly hovering over Emu and he seems… expectant. Emu begins to wonder what he’s waiting for. The minutes tick by. Emu focuses on the slow return of sensation to his limbs. It wasn’t that they he had been numb exactly but it’s like he’s feeling them more acutely as the feeling of detachment from his own body fades.

Gradually he becomes aware of how very warm he also feels. Too warm. The crate is cool under his fingers, it’s not hot in the room then why is he… And then with an unpleasant jolt, Emu’s fogged brain recalls that vampire venom has a second, latent effect. Following a state of sedation, as the venom began to break down within the human body, it resulted in a number of compounds which could produce effects of intense arousal.

It wasn’t one he’d had to deal with much as a doctor, to be honest. By the time they reached the hospital, victims were most commonly being treated for serious blood loss, or else … infection. A walk in was usually no longer under the influence of the venom and patients suffering such severe blood loss were seldom conscious at admittance. It was a strange sort of coincidence that an unconscious patient would be spared the embarrassment of the immediate secondary symptoms of a vampire bite. However, Parad’s more restrained feeding had left Emu conscious this time, and left him to endure the secondary effects of the venom.

Increasingly aware of his predicament, Emu finds himself squirming uncomfortably atop the crate, and trying pointlessly to ignore how tight his jeans suddenly seem. Parad is still hanging close by and Emu is torn between glaring at him and desperately avoiding eye contact out of embarrassment. He settles for a middle ground in glaring daggers at a cement support pillar a couple yards behind and to the left of where the vampire currently is.

It’s at this point, that Parad resumes the circling, making one more tight circuit around the crate. He walks so close that Emu feels the tails of Parad’s jacket brush against his side as Parad comes around to the front. Parad leans over him, blocking Emu’s determined view of the pillar. One of Parad’s hands brushes against Emu’s hip and he jumps slightly at the unexpected touch, but Parad’s habit of getting into his personal space is unacceptably appealing just now. Emu hates it all the more.

Parad leans even closer, until their lips are almost touching and Emu can’t take it anymore and closes the gap. It’s a rough kiss, full of Emu’s frustration and anger. Parad’s tongue dips boldly into Emu’s mouth and Emu bites it, not gently.

With a noise of muffled affront, Parad tries to draw away, but Emu isn’t done with him. He’s gotten ahold of Parad by the front of his coat somehow and he uses it to keep the vampire in places. For a moment, Emu takes control of the kiss, all his frustration and anger and he’s so hot and he _wants--_

Arching his body, Parad manages to make enough space to part his lips from Emu’s. He isn’t loose from Emu’s hold really, but by twisting he’s bought himself a bit of breathing room. The action also presses parts of Parad's body firmly against Emu, which Emu's fevered body is all too aware of.

Parad bends his neck, dipping back in. Emu expects him to seal their lips together again, his own lips parting a little in anticipation. But instead, Parad catches Emu’s bottom lip between his teeth. He holds it with surprising delicacy for someone's with such very sharp teeth and tugs a little, hooded eyes meeting Emu’s.

There’s something about the way Parad smoothly contorts that Emu frankly doubts a normal human ought to be able to. But then again, maybe if they were properly motivated. People will try all sorts of things to satisfy their needs. Here he is hot and bothered and _kissing a damn vampire_.

With what feels like a tremendous effort, Emu finally musters enough self-control to act, venom or no. He shoves hard against Parad’s chest, throwing him away with a shout of disgust.  
The vampire blinks at Emu for a moment, vertical pupils narrowing slightly from how very wide they were blown. It might only be his venom addled imagination, but he thinks Parad looks a little hurt.

Contrary to Emu’s expectations, Parad doesn’t try again. Instead he goes to perch like a roosting falcon on a taller stack of crates across the room, keeping an eye on Emu over the top of his handheld.

Exhausted, and still too warm, Emu curls onto his side atop the crate, facing away from Parad. He closes his eyes and focuses on the cool surface under him, trying to will the tenting in his pants away.


	7. Teeth All The Way Down

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Emu and Parad finally have their showdown.

Parad wears Emu like a suit, stretching, checking the fit of the coat around his shoulders, smoothing his hands down Emu’s thighs to see if everything is laying just right. He adjusts Emu’s lines gleefully, and gives a little spin of glee before setting off.

He almost, but doesn’t quite pass himself off as Emu to the other riders. They know somehow - he thinks - even before he makes a mistake with the pronouns and gives himself away. Maybe his eyes glint a little too much in the sunlight, or maybe he’s just a little too happy, smiling in a way that’s far more relaxed than Emu has been in weeks.

Parad is not a terribly good actor. He can only keep up a facade so long. A little deception is one thing, but he’s never much cared for lies, not like Dan.

With that small diversion over, Parad drops Emu to the ground like a shed coat and issues his real challenge. One on one, winner take all. It’s been fun, but it’s time to settle things once and for all.

\------

Emu rises to Parad’s challenge, but it was a battle he couldn’t have won. Parad has taken too much and profited too well by it. Even if Emu weren’t hindered by exhaustion and recent blood loss, he couldn’t stand against Parad and the armor he’s built for himself. Emu’s stolen power and Parad’s ingenuity.

Not even the arrival of Brave and Snipe makes any difference. The power difference is so great, that it’s barely an interruption. Parad takes them down easily, throwing them back towards the way they came in before returning his attention to Emu. 

The battle is decided. Emu, well past his limits, kneels unarmored and heaving for breath. It’s taking every last ounce of energy to maintain the violent glare he’s keeping leveled at Parad. The vampire stands triumphant a few yards away, looking down the barrel of the Gashacon Parabragun at him, finger on the trigger.

“This is the end for you, M,” Parad pronounces.

Parad’s heart is leaping, dancing, fluttering in his chest. Nearly stuttering. Excitement. Anticipation. A half-crazed mantra in the back of his mind senselessly repeating an endless string of “ _this is it thisisit--_ ” at a tempo even more swift than the beating of his pulse.

A more distant voice is saying faintly “ _...earned this._ ” But that voice isn’t filled with the victory coursing through Parad. It isn’t his voice at all. It’s a tired, beaten down voice that’s whispering, almost unheard, across his connection with Emu. “ _... tried. Failed. They died kiriya died I deserve t-_ ” It bleeds in unnoticed, mingling with all the other unpleasant feelings that have pooled in Parad over the years. A still and deep and acid lake deep inside him - formed beneath the ecstasy of joy and rage, victory and all the passions of battle.

Parad’s finger tightens on the trigger. He imagines what will happen when he pulls it. What it will be like watching Emu die. What it will feel like to be _the only one_. How Emu’s blood will spread across the concrete. His mouth is suddenly very dry.

Parad releases his transformation, but keeps his weapon in hand, leveled steadily at Emu. He licks his lips and stalks closer, smooth, confident steps. Closer and closer until the muzzle of the Parabragun is only just out of Emu’s reach. Emu refuses to drop his gaze, keeping his eyes locked defiantly with Parad’s.

“If you don’t have any fight left in you then I suppose you’re only good for one thing,” Parad drawls. “I suppose we can do this the old fashioned way. After all, I’ve worked up quite an appetite.”

He takes a knee himself, slotting his forward foot neatly between Emu’s knees as he does and closing the distance between them. He has the muzzle of the gun under Emu’s jaw faster than the humans can blink. The others shout, but they’re in no state to intervene after the quick but effective thrashing Parad gave them.

Parad leans close, and whispers in Emu’s ear like a lover: “Losers get the ending they deserve,” he draws back a little, to look Emu in the face again, smiling coldly, “...and to the victor go the spoils.” With that he take a fistful of Emu’s hair, yanking his head sharply to one side to better expose his neck.

Emu feels the pressure of the parabaragun under his jaw suddenly vanish. Parad holds it up off to his side where Emu can just see it out of the corner of his eye. “We don’t need this after all,” Parad says, shaking his wrist carelessly from side to side, with the weapon pointed at the ceiling. His smile widdens. “We can just do this the old fashioned way.”

Parad rears back, bearing all of his teeth, like the predator he is. Gone is the grace and seduction. There’s only teeth now. Teeth all the way down. Inhuman, extra rows of teeth concealed behind the vaguely human facade.

At this angle Emu can see up into Parad’s mouth. He can see all of them, teeth made to rip and shred flesh, their points catching the light. It’s like looking into a nightmare. Like staring death in the face.

Emu knows for certain these are the final seconds of his life. He can’t get free of Parad’s hold, can’t force him away. At any moment, Parad will strike and that will be it. Parad is going to tear his throat apart.

Salvation comes, it turns out, from the most unlikely of places.

A black gloved hand closes on the back of Parad’s neck. The acrid smell of singing flesh reaches Emu’s nose. Parad releases Emu as he’s lifted and thrown clean across the room. Parad rolls to his feet and levels the Parabragun at his assailant. He clasps a hand over the back of his neck, hissing in pain. Emu can just make out the edges of raw, burnt finger and thumb marks wrapping around from the back.  
,  
There’s a laugh, and Emu’s attention snaps back to his rescuer, because he _knows_ that laugh. A rolling, crescendoing, manic laugh. And it can’t be, but it is. There’s no mistaking that suit either. It’s more silver and black than the purple it was, and humming with an unfamiliar power.

Parad snarls in rage and fires a volley at the interloper. He flips and dodges the answering shots from a bugvisor but try as he might, he can’t get close to Emu The figure who must, but cannot be, Dan Kuroto keeps between them and some force more than his returning fire seems to keep Parad at bay.

Through the helmet, Kuroto’s voice rises over the sounds of battle, ranting about being beyond death, too great to be defeated for good. About how his designs cannot be thwarted and heretics will be smited. After a while it blends back into the din as Emu filters it out as meaningless background noise.

He watches Parad fight. The vampire is caught out of his armor and there’s something about this new black and silver suit but still he fights fluidly anyway, rolling and flipping, shooting all the while with uncanny accuracy. The battle goes on for several more minutes until the vampire begins to tire. At a clear disadvantage, and barred from his prize, Parad is finally forced to retreat. Parad hisses and snarls, heaving, frustrated and hungry and immeasurably furious, before dissolving into embers and shadow and flurrying away into the night.


End file.
